Celebrating in Jackson Hole

Yesterday we celebrated Barry's 49th! Hard to believe that he is entering his final year in the 40's - need to start planning the big party for next year (mark your calendars)!  He can't feel too bad about his age though, a shop owner in town the other day thought that Barry & Derek were Ashley's brothers! I didn't ask him if he thought I was the mother of all of them or not!

I met Barry in town for lunch at Betty Rock Cafe. We sat outside and enjoyed the sunshine and 70 degrees overlooking Snow King Mountain Resort (small in-town ski area - greatest vertical drop in North America...don't think that you will find us there anytime soon).



HAPPY BIRTHDAY BARRY!!



View of Snow King Ski Area - downtown JH


















After work we decided to take a walk to a local Pub that is about a mile away for Happy Hour. This place has an awesome view of the mountains, and a great outdoor patio - may be a great place to host that party next year. The great thing is they also have a free shuttle! So, when you come visit we can walk to The Bird, enjoy beautiful sunsets, beer & burgers and then catch a ride home - sweet! We watched the sunset over the Tetons (for the first time I did not have my camera - bummer) and then had a chilly walk home.  The evening rounded out enjoying steak dinner, a nice bottle of wine and Barry's favorite dessert - homemade Banana Cream Pie (no altitude adjustment needed for this recipe)!


High Altitude prevents you from being able
 to have too many candles to blow out!





My biggest challenge continues to be "What to get a guy who has everything... and now lives in JH and needs everything to survive here!" Well, he got an "all access" ski pass - come out and ski (I am just a "weekend warrior" ski pass holder - weekdays are for shopping with friends when they visit). And the kids got him some new fleece jackets...a must for the weather. I also got him another hiking book and a hiking watch with a compass, altimeter, barometer etc. - never will we get lost again! But I did find what I thought was the perfect gift while window shopping yesterday....hope that it won't be too bulky through his clothes:


Had a difficult time determining tail or no tail. Hope that
he won't seem like too much of a tourist with this!

So all in all I think that it was a successful celebration. Hope to next year be celebrating with all of you out here when he turns the BIG 5-0!

NEW FRIENDS!!!!
Wanted to let you all know that I have met a number of new friends - we go on long walks and window shopping together and have great conversations; although I still miss all of my OP friends and family:


Chloe - wanted to adopt her, but she got taken an hour before I got there :(



Brooke - a real sweetie




Red - awesome friend!



















Actually my "new friends" are all from the local animal shelter! I go there and walk the dogs - it is a great shelter that allows you to come and walk the dogs around town to get them socialized and also seen by the locals so that they can get adopted. All of the dogs go home each night to a foster home - they are never caged or left alone! It is an awesome facility and hopefully where we will find our new family member. I will keep you posted on when the perfect pup finds us!  In the meantime, I am the resident dog walker - I love it!